A deck is a small building bolted to your house. The part you see — composite boards, a cable rail, a built-in bench — sits on the parts that matter: footings below frost, a ledger that's bolted and flashed, joists sized for the span. We design it, pull the permit, pass the footing inspection, and build it with one crew. Porches, screened rooms and railings too.
Free in-home design visit · itemized price on the spot · no deposit
Licensed & insured · 2,000+ NJ projects · 7 years · a real person answers 24/7
A deck is a small building bolted to your house. Typical price: $12K – $80K+. Licensed & insured, written itemized price before work starts, no deposit, one dedicated crew. Serving all 21 New Jersey counties from Paramus. Call (201) 676-3099 or book a free estimate.
Capped composite doesn't rot, splinter or need staining — you hose it off. It costs more up front (roughly $70–$110 per square foot built, with framing and rail) and lasts 25–30 years. Most decks we build now are composite over a pressure-treated frame.
The value pick: about $45–$70 per square foot built. It needs staining every 2–3 years and the boards will check and move. Cedar looks better and costs more. A wood deck with a good ledger is still a good deck — you just have to keep up with it.
Black aluminum is the workhorse: strong, never painted. Cable rail for the view, composite to match the boards, wood if you want it. All built to the 36-inch height and 200-pound load the code requires.
In New Jersey, a deck needs a building permit. The town wants a plan showing footings, ledger attachment, joist span and rail height, and the inspector comes at least twice: to see the footing holes before concrete goes in, and at the end. Footings go below frost — 36 inches or more, depending on your town — on undisturbed soil. Skip any of it and you've got a deck you can't sell the house with, and a rail that might not hold a crowd.
We draw the plan, file the permit, dig to depth, and don't pour until the footing inspection passes. The final inspection is our problem, not yours.
Almost every deck collapse you read about is the ledger — the board bolted to the house — pulling away because it was nailed, not bolted, or rotting because it was never flashed. Ours are lag- or through-bolted to the rim joist on a schedule, with membrane and metal flashing over the top so water from the siding runs out over the deck, not into your house. If the rim joist is soft, we replace it — it's in the quote.
A porch is a deck with a roof — a roofing job, a framing job and usually an electrical job. That's the point of one crew: footings, columns, the roof flashed into the house, the beadboard ceiling, the fan and the lights — one contract, one foreman. Screened porches and three-season rooms get the same treatment with screen panels or sliding glass.
We walk the yard, talk about how you'll use it, check the house where the ledger goes, and sketch it. Itemized price on the spot: boards by brand and line, framing, footings, rail, stairs, lighting, permit.
Plans in, permit out — usually 1–3 weeks depending on the town.
Footings, inspection, frame, ledger, decking, rail, stairs. A typical deck is 1–2 weeks; a porch, 3–5. Photo update every workday.
The town signs it off, you walk it with us, then you release the final payment.
Decks and porches across all 21 New Jersey counties from Paramus. Design visits same-day or next-day.
typical fixed-price range — your exact number goes in writing after a free visit
How we beat the big chains: Deck franchises sell a package and rent a framing crew you'll never meet — then the porch roof and the lights are 'somebody else.' No franchise fees, no commissioned salesmen, no rented subcontractors — that's typically 15–30% under national-brand quotes for the same or better spec. Bring us any written quote and we'll match the scope line by line.
“No permit. When we sold the house, the buyer's inspector flagged the deck and we ate the cost of fixing it.”
“The rail wobbled the day they left. It's a 12-foot drop.”
“The 'deck guy' couldn't do the porch roof, so I hired a roofer, an electrician and a painter. It took all summer.”
You found a crew that is actually near you. First Call Contracting is based in Paramus, in Bergen County, and our own licensed techs handle decks & porches in all 21 New Jersey counties — no call center, no subcontractor sent from two states away. Most of Bergen, Passaic, Hudson and Essex is 15 to 30 minutes from our shop, and emergencies go to the nearest crew, 24/7.
Closest to us: Bergen CountyPassaic CountyHudson CountyEssex CountyMorris CountyUnion CountyAll 21 counties & 219+ towns →
Call (201) 676-3099, text us a photo, or book a free in-home estimate — you get a written price before any work starts.
A 300 sq ft pressure-treated deck with stairs and rail runs about $13,000 to $21,000; the same deck in composite, $21,000 to $33,000. Multiple levels, cable rail and lighting push it higher. Covered porches start around $35,000; screened rooms run $45,000 to $80,000+. Itemized and fixed before we dig.
Yes, in every New Jersey town. The permit covers footing depth, ledger attachment and rail safety — what keeps the deck on the house and people on the deck. We pull it and meet the inspector.
Permit approval is usually 1–3 weeks, then a typical deck takes 1–2 weeks to build and a porch 3–5. You get the schedule in writing and a photo text every workday.
Often. If the frame is sound, we can re-deck it in composite, replace the rail and rebuild the stairs for a fraction of a new deck. If the ledger's rotten or the footings are shallow, we'll show you — a new deck is cheaper than a collapse.
Yes. We have electricians on the team, so post-cap lights, stair lights, outlets and a porch fan go on the same permit and the same contract.
Darker boards do, in full sun. Lighter colors and the newer heat-mitigating lines stay closer to wood temperatures. We leave samples in your sun for an afternoon so you can feel the difference before you pick.
If you're anywhere in New Jersey, yes. First Call Contracting is based in Paramus and handles decks & porches across all 21 counties with our own licensed crew. Most of Bergen, Passaic, Hudson and Essex is 15 to 30 minutes from our shop, and emergencies are dispatched to the nearest crew 24/7. Call (201) 676-3099 or book a free in-home estimate.
Designed, permitted, footings inspected · one crew for the deck, the porch roof and the lights
Or call Alex direct: (201) 676-3099
A real person picks up every hour of every day. We tell you what to shut off first, then send the nearest crew.